Brrr

It's a balmy 25 degrees here today with blowing snow and winds around 20+ mph...and today is the warmest one we've had in a while! I'm just hanging out for a bit before being picked up to be carted off to the airport. So, while killing some time, let's have some thoughts about Christmas.

Things I'm thankful for this Christmas... I will start with friends that are willing to come get me and take me to the airport on their day off work. I always feel better about being propelled through the air in an aluminum tube if I can spend some time before with good people. I also feel better about this knowing that said fellow (who is a fellow member in the any-beer-at-any-time club) will probably toss back a couple in the airport lounge with me while I wait to be frisked by security and send on my way.

I'm also thankful for a family that will fly me down to Florida to hang out with them on their holiday break. (As well as for being tolerant of having my plans literally change 3 times in a day, but that will happen when your company is contracting with the times.)

I am thankful for Sven, my new rat-companion. We're still getting to know each other, but he's turning out to be quite the cuddly little guy. There's a lot to be said to having someone looking forward to your arrival home from work.

Facebook has brought to me yet another apology from a high school mean girl. Yeah, those girls were mean, but oddly enough it's suited me well because even before the age of 20, I knew how to deal with maladjusts and bitches and this is a skill that serves me well on the factory floor. File a grievance against me? It's better than a note in my locker telling me to leave town. Being a favorite target of the mean girls, I've later learned, has come from not giving them much of a reaction. I was commended today in writing by one of them for "turning the other cheek" and "taking the high road." Of course, having a rather sweet and sour demeaner could mean that I was mooning them when they weren't looking or getting to a strategic high point to better dispatch with the boiling oil. So...I'm not really thankful for the apologies because that's just a minor footnote added to a minor lift chapter. But I am thankful for the inherent ability to roll with the punches.

Finally, I'm thankful that I still have a job. A lot of folks I work with will start being let go at the begining of the year and it looks like I'm here to stay. (Of course, if I go, that means that the company was probably sold to China or something...let's just things will be really bad if stuff like that starts happening - the cuts get that deep.) I'm thankful I have friends with good business sense with whom to discuss this whole...situation and bounce off ideas. I glad my parents have instilled (what I think is) a good work ethic and never giving up. All of you out there should never give up and I have a story to illustrate why - ask me and I'll tell you in person sometime.

So now I'm off to bundle up, gather some in-flight magazines and set forth on some warmth and adventure.

See you in '09 kids!